08 July 2011
“This is me” – city centre hospitals introduce booklet to improve dementia care
Work is continuing in the Bristol city centre hospitals to
improve care for people who suffer from dementia and confusion with
the introduction of the "this is me" booklet created by the
Alzheimer's Society and supported by the Royal College of
Nursing.
The booklet is being introduced across University Hospitals NHS
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol). It can be filled out and
given to staff when a person with dementia goes into hospital to
help hospital staff learn about the person's habits, hobbies, likes
and dislikes.
The roll out across UH Bristol will be aided by a £2,500
scholarship that nurse Carly Hall won in May. It will enable her to
work with staff at every level and across all clinical areas of the
Trust to embed the use of the booklet and help to provide a
positive hospital experience for patients with dementia.
"The purpose of the booklet is to provide staff with a
'snapshot' of the person behind the dementia so that they can care
for them appropriately. This gives staff an insight into the
patient's interests and background. It can be something as simple
as knowing that a patient is always called by their middle rather
than their first name and this can really make a difference to
their experience," said Helen Morgan, Head of Nursing for
Specialised Services, who is leading work across the Trust to
improve care for patients with dementia.
Mr Alan Perrett, whose wife Patricia was admitted to the Bristol
Royal Infirmary three times this year, is helping UH Bristol
implement the "this is me" booklet and provide better care for
patients with dementia.
"This work is very necessary. We encountered some problems when
my wife, Patricia, who has dementia, was admitted to hospital three
times this year. Even though she did not stay in hospital long, her
stays there disrupted our routine and have had a longer term
effect. As her carer, I needed information from the staff that my
wife couldn't give me and the staff needed information about
Patricia that she couldn't give them.
"My wife's dementia has come on over a period of time and you
live and grow with it. She was not in hospital for her dementia,
but we needed to recognise that if those needs were not met they
may have got in the way of the healing process."
The introduction of the booklet across the Trust is one of many
pieces of work that is being done to improve hospital care for
patients with dementia in line with the National Dementia Strategy.
A 2009 report by the Alzheimer's Society showed that people over 65
years of age with dementia are currently using up to one quarter of
hospital beds at any one time, staying longer than a person without
dementia with the same medical condition. This has a negative
impact on patients' symptoms of dementia and their physical
health.
"It is essential that we provide care for patients with dementia
that takes full account of their condition and we train staff so
that they have the skills to do this. To provide excellent care to
confused patients we must identify them quickly and treat them
appropriately so that nothing they experience while in hospital
adds to their confusion," said Alison Moon, Chief Nurse and Chair
of the South West Dementia Partnership, established to lead work,
share best practice and set a common set of standards across the
South West.
A national audit of dementia care in hospitals has been
commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership
(HQIP) and conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The
final report is due to be published later this year. UH Bristol is
working with North Bristol NHS Trust to ensure that standards are
implemented in all Bristol's hospitals and that patients with
dementia receive high quality care across the city.
"We know that we have a lot of work to do although there are
some areas of good practice across our hospitals. We have drawn up
a work programme that looks at different ways of improving care for
patients with dementia, from practical solutions such as ensuring
that the new Patient Administration System (PAS) identifies
patients with dementia, limiting ward moves, ensuring that ward
areas have clocks which help patients to orient themselves, to
providing training and development for staff," said Helen
Morgan.
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